Egg comparisons

Eggs are a bit thin on the ground at the moment. The little girls are still moulting and as well as fluffy little feathers I am picking up very ragged wing and tail feathers.

Apricot hasn’t laid for two and a half months now. Dandelion laid three eggs last month and none since. Cinnamon laid two at the end of last month and two this month so far. Freckles continues to lay every other day with gaps of four days now and again.

After Dandelion laid another thin shelled egg I gave the girls mash with ground egg shell. Dandelion hasn’t laid since then. Freckles is always at the grit every afternoon before bedtime and that combined with the egg shell I gave them has lead to her egg shells having little calcium bubbles on them. Her egg shells are harder than the shop bought egg shells. I have never seen Dandelion go to the grit and wonder if that’s why her shells are thin. She does pick up grit from the ground though.

Freckles and Cinnamon’s eggs

From the right, the first two eggs are Cinnamon’s oval shaped eggs. The next round one is Freckles. The next is Cinnamon’s and the two on the left are Freckles. I went from right to left as that’s the oldest to the latest eggs. It’s Freckles latest egg that has the calcium bubbles on it’s shell.

Freckles egg on the left with calcium bubbles on the shell and Cinnamon’s on the right

A medium, shop bought, egg on the left, Freckles egg in the middle and Cinnamon’s on the right

Freckles egg on the left, cinnamon’s in the middle and a medium, shop bought, egg on the right

I thought this would help give a size comparison. Cinnamon’s eggs are the biggest of the little girl’s eggs despite her being the tiniest girl. Freckles eggs are the only ones that are completely round. Rusty’s used to be the same. Dandelion’s are oval like cinnamon’s and Apricot are more strawberry shaped and also strawberry sized and the smallest of all our eggs.

I must admit that Apricot’s eggs are not so much missed due to their tiny size. We eat the little eggs two at a time but eat Apricot’s eggs three at a time.

They are all special though and I love being able to tell them apart. At the moment we are only getting enough for Sunday breakfast and I am buying six, shop eggs, a week. I will look forward to an increase in the eggs when the moulting slows back down again.

Carol! I am amazed at how you know who lays what and when!! I have 8 girls and get 3-4 eggs a day. I was beginning to think a few would never lay again but thanks to your info, I know they are still molting. This must take FOREVER!!!! Each egg is definitely like a chunk of gold to me now!!

It easier for me to tell at the moment but if I add more girls in spring it may not be so easy. Emerald and Speckles, the two bigger girls, don’t lay over winter when moulting. When they do lay, Emerald lays, medium sized, beige, eggs and Speckles lays, huge, white eggs, so they are easy. At the moment Freckles is the best layer and the only one to lay perfectly round eggs so hers are easy. I have never seen such tiny eggs as Apricots, making hers easy. Cinnamon’s are the largest and Dandelions, unfortunately, often end up broken as hers have the thin shells. This year the moult does seem to be taking forever. I am still finding feathers from Emerald who started moulting first. Today I picked up a few of Dandelion’s tail feathers. As you say any eggs are gold at the moment.

I definitely prefer our hens eggs over shop bought ones. One of my daughters doesn’t like eggs but the other will only eat our own now! We’ve been lucky and since they started laying there’s been minimal interruption, we’ve been selling most of the eggs to friends which covers chicken food costs. One neighbour also trades freshly baked bread for eggs!

That’s great. We used to give eggs to neighbours and family but since we have kept smaller girls we have found that we are able to eat them all ourselves. Trading is great and getting your girls to love your own eggs is also really lovely.

Both freckles and Cinnamon laid today, our only two laying at the moment. Cinnamon’s eggs are amazing for her size. It’s no surprise that you have yet another broody. It seems to be the norm at your place!

They say that, as a door closes, a window opens – Cotton, at the grand old age of 5, laid her first egg in some time today – very distinctive, and easy to recognise. There was also another large, chalky-shelled egg, but I have no idea who laid it – so 2 layers back into harness (certainly Cotton might go 3 weeks, if I’m lucky, before instinct kicks in!